From Dust We Came

“So Jacob was left alone.  A man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.”  Genesis 32:24

From Dust We Came

Wrestled – What isn’t obvious in English is the origin of the Hebrew verb, “to wrestle”.  But we need to know about its background to see the symbolism in this event.  “Wrestling” comes from the Hebrew word “dust” or “dirt”.  While it is a picture of what happens when two men struggle with each other in the dirt, this idea might have a bit more to say to us.  Jacob’s encounter is a face-off with who he really is.  He is taken back to the very nature of his being, to the way God made him.  Jacob is the name he has made for himself, the name he has constructed out of the basic dust of his life.  But here he discovers that his formation of the basic clay from which he came is not sufficient any more.  It’s time to start again.  The old dust has to be reformed into a new human being.  That is the wrestling match of every life, and in the end, God wins.

What is the dust of your life like?  Have you formed it into an image made by your own hands?  Have you taken the basic material you were born with and shaped a person who bears a resemblance to something fashioned into your idea of success?  If so, there is a wrestling match ahead.  Your dust will become the place of a great struggle with God.  You can fight all you like, but when the dark night of the soul is over, the dust of your life will be defeated.  You will have nothing left but dirt between your fingers.

At that moment, when you finally see your life as dust, you can do what Jacob did.  You can grip God will all that you have left.  You can cling to Him refusing to let go.  You can say, “Bless me”.  But be ready for a total change in constitution.  God will bring you to defeat.  That old dust will have to be overcome before the blessing can be given.  And when it is overcome, God will resurrect the basic dust of your life into what He intended it to be from the beginning.